Court Gives New Hope to DACA Recipients: Don’t Let It Stop There

For three years, recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program have lived in fear that they would no longer be able to legally live and work in the United States. That fear turned into hope today when the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to end DACA.

Since its inception in 2012, the DACA program has provided more than 800,000 individuals who came to this country at a young age the ability to legally work, pursue their educational aspirations, and build their lives here; it also afforded them temporary protections from deportation.

JFF applauds the court’s decision. DACA recipients are members of our communities, schools, and workplaces, and we value the tremendous assets they bring to this country.

They fill many of our nation’s critical, in-demand jobs, and they include doctors, educators, business owners, college students, and more. They also work in the food service industry, agriculture, food manufacturing, and distribution. Without them, the United States would lose, at the very least, more than 200,000 frontline workers who are protecting the health and safety of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. We would also lose roughly 14,900 teachers who are working tirelessly to ensure that students receive the supports they need while our country’s education systems adapt to full-time online learning during the pandemic. Losing DACA medical workers and teachers would be disastrous to our country, because we are experiencing critical workforce shortages in those fields.

DACA recipients make important intellectual, social, and financial contributions to their communities and add to the economic vitality of our country. A recent Center for American Progress analysis found that DACA recipients and their households pay more than $5.6 billion in federal taxes and $3.1 billion in state and local taxes each year.

The Trump administration’s 2017 decision to end the DACA program, which led to nearly three years of legal limbo, left DACA beneficiaries in constant fear about whether they would be able to continue to raise their families in this country, advance in their educational pursuits and careers, and contribute to their communities. The court’s ruling has helped relieve some of that fear.

JFF’s driving vision is to see the promise of education and economic mobility achieved for everyone in America—regardless of where they were born.

While the DACA program will continue for now, Congress must act swiftly to develop a permanent legislative fix that would grant DACA recipients a viable and permanent pathway to citizenship. Only with congressional action will DACA recipients have a safe and legal future in this country.

We, as a nation, rely on the skills and education of DACA recipients, and the country will suffer if we lose the young immigrants who are filling critical jobs. The economy cannot afford to experience that loss of talent—a loss that would ultimately affect hundreds of thousands of lives. With renewed hope for change in light of the court ruling, give DACA recipients the chance to pursue the ideals of the American Dream.